Media

Welcome to AquariaCentral.com

You are currently viewing our boards as a guest which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community you will have access to post topics, communicate privately with other
members (PM), respond to polls, upload content and access many other special features. You will be entering into a wonderful world of aquatic information, for all aquarists, no matter what their experience level.

Our members will do their best to help you in your aquarium endeavors. We have a vast assortment of Forums to dive into:

I'm wondering first off, if there are any Discus breeders in Virginia? Second, any near by or fellow forum members that have them?
I am thinking of getting some and eventually breeding a few.
Please do not mention Discus Hans, I know he is the best, I'm still wanting to know of fellow hobbyists.
I am not looking to buy any now, as shipping is crazy and individual fish are also way too costly for me now.
On CL there was a guy in Manassas, VA who has them. I think I've seen his ad 6mo+ ago.

Hi Lilysn - I'm in the same boat as you. I saw the ad on CG and contacted the gentleman. He had new pictures posted. The fish seem healthy and well shaped,but I am new to Discus and have not seen them. I do not know who the parents of his fish are - meaning what type or where they are from. I asked what water parameters he has his tanks at but have yet to hear from him.

Why is it that for all other fish a breeder is best and you get scolded for using a store, but Discus is either Hans and the like or a store?
They say support your fellow hobbyiest, but not for this fish?

I would think if they can breed in a random persons tank, then another random person's tank wouldn't be a huge jump.

The problem is that most discus breeders are not random people. They obsess over them. Most have ridiculous water change schedules (I have heard 80% every other day, 90% daily, and even some do 100% where the discus are laying on their side). This means that when those discus end up in a tank that gets a more normal water change schedule they do not do as well.

Discus breeders don't select for health and hardiness. They select for color, conformation, etc. They may say that they select for both, but it is impossible to select for both health/hardiness and anything else. This means that the resulting stock lose health/hardiness. I have seen it over and over and over again with clients and customers.

The problem is that different people have different ideas about what is ideal. I consider ideal to be healthy fish that thrive and that look good to me. Discus breeders (and breeders of any other animal with various breeds) have made up arbitrary standards about what is 'desirable'. When you select for these arbitrarily 'desirable' traits instead of selecting only on health/hardiness you WILL lose health/hardiness.

Hm, guess I forgot about that. I knew that from 'backyard breeders' of dogs, cats and the like.
I found a store in Alexandria, VA that has them. They are almost 2hrs from me, hope they don't sell out after I call to check before I drive up there, lol. Do they tend to sell fast in lfs??

I wouldn't call them backyard breeders, and the problem isn't unique to backyard breeders. The problem is real ANY time you select for ANYTHING other than health/hardiness. The best dog breeder in the world is still causing the exact same problems. Maybe they are okay for the generations they have produced so far, but what they are doing is causing harm for the overall health of the breed. The same is true of goldfish. The high end ones are super sensitive. I have heard the same thing of guppies, bettas, on and on. When you select for color, shape, size, etc. you are breeding in spite of health/hardiness instead of for it.

Which shop?

How fast they sell depends on a lot of things. Their traffic, how many they have, their pricing, size, color, etc. I would ask how many they have, how long they have had them, what all they are eating, etc. You can also ask them how fast they sell. They may not be completely honest and just try to get you in, but it won't hurt to ask.

i cannot disagree more, and if you had ever talked to some of the most serious breeders, youw ould know this is not true. not to mention, many of those large scale breeders are WHO supply the stores.

If you have ever attended one of hans talks, you would know he uses tapwater, feeds a realistic diet, and says that temp and clean water is all you need for succesful discus.

If I were you, I would do research on good conformation, on how to tell if a discus is a healthy weight, etc. While it may not MATTER if the discus is show conformation, if you want to breed them, you will want to be able to sell them.

I am not trying to push Hans, by any means, but he is this kind of guy that can give you real, concrete information on care and is happy to answer emails with help . Is a store a few hours away going to be willing to do that? Also, will a store have been feeding them? Often they do not, certainly not the amount a discus with ahigh metabolism from warm temps would need.

I would never buy store discus without knowing their source. There is a lot of crap out there. Stores often buy smaller (cheaper) and then don't rear them as they should be. I wouldn't want a footballed undersized discus to start a breeding project with unless your goal is to keep them all and just experience their breedign behavior.

That being said, I have a buddy in NJ who breeds some beautiful discus, in his house, only a few tanks.